Life With Ella

We arrived in NJ on Monday night. As soon as we got to my parent’s house, Ella reminded me that I told her she could wear a sun dress, so I pulled one out and she put it on with a huge smile on her face. Traveling with Ella was really wonderful. It was the first time that I was alone on a plane with her and I was a little nervous, but everything was great. She is such a great traveler. We both really missed mommy a lot. I would much rather travel with mommy and Ella. Ella was so happy when she saw grandma and papa and I don’t need to say how happy they were to see her! Ella woke up this morning in such a great mood. She immediately told grandma that she wanted a sun dress and she got it. Grandma and Ella spent time together going to Fireman’s park and hanging out while I went into NY to hang out with AJ. Ella was taking a nap when I came home and when she woke up, grandma and I took Ella to another park and to the public library. When we got back, papa was home from work. He brought Ella a present – an I Zod dress. The day before, Ella admired papa’s alligator on his shirt, so he got her one but in the dress style. Ella put it on and loved it although she let us know that it wasn’t really a sun dress. Tonight, we went out for Chinese food and ice cream and had a lot of fun. WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU MOMMY! HURRY UP AND GET HERE ALREADY.

Grandma pushing Ella on the swings.

Ella loved swing on this “big girl swing”. She wanted to go so high.

This is what I call happiness.

Here are grandma, papa and Ella having a popsicle party.

Ella in her new dress.

Here they are – the alligator twins.

Ella requested this picture with grandma and papa.

Grandma and Ella falling asleep together while watching the Letter Factory.

Sunny and Ella took a walk today while I was having a massage. Ella decided that she wanted to wear a leotard, tights and a tutu. As they were going around the ballpark, Ella admired herself in the mirror. Ella and I leave for NY tomorrow morning and Mommy is joining us on Thursday. We can’t wait to see you mommy – we love you!

Ella in her car on the way outside.

Hey there – how are you?

Check out little miss crazy curls.

Today was a beautiful day. Ella woke up and told me that she wanted to put on a sun dress (what a surprise!). I already packed her suitcase for our trip back east and put all her sun dresses in it so I tried to fake her out with a tank top. Sometimes, if the tank top is big enough Ella calls it a sun dress. Today, she took it, told me that she didn’t want to wear a tank top, and threw it on the ground. OK – so I went to her closet and looked for a dress. I found one that Ella wore over a year ago and I brought it to her. It’s more of a dress than her casual sun dresses that she wears around and her eyes lit up. “That is a beautiful sun dress mama. I want to put it on right now and only wear that, no sweat shirt, no pants, only the sun dress and my red ruby slippers”. She got her wish except I told her that we were going to walk to the Ferry building, so she had to wear another pair of shoes. She agreed. It was a gorgeous day and we spent quite a while outside. Tonight we went to Acme again. It was really fun there. The Giants were playing the Dodgers and we won! Ella had a terrific time there schmoozing with everyone.

One quick story before the pictures. The other day, Ella had on a tank top (sun dress in Ella’s world that day) and she was taking a sip of water from my cup. She took a really big sip and she spilled some water on her shirt. She told me that she wanted to take it off. I helped her take it off and she said that she wanted another sun dress. I told her that she needed to put on a shirt and pants because we were going out. She tried to run out of our room to go get another sun dress and the door was closed. She came running back in and cried (literally cried) “Oh my god, oh my god – I really need a sun dress”. We compromised and she wore a “sun dress” under her sweat shirt. Her dramatics are incredible!

Ella about to conquer the “big red ladder”.

The top of the big red ladder (all by herself).

Doing some drumming on the wall.

Ella changed her outfit after the bath and enjoyed hanging out with Adrianna at Acme.

Here they are hanging out. Ella’s smile tells it all!

We pretty much stayed home all day. I packed for Ella and me because we are leaving to go back east on Monday and I wanted to be ahead of the game. In the evening, we took a walk and then ended up at the Kim/Arena’s house. Helen had to take Ron to the ER because he tore a ligament or something in his calf – Ron we hope you feel better! Julie (Emo), Justin and Emily were over with the girls. The girls watched the Letter Factory, a DVD that is teaching them phonics and how to identify letters. They all love this movie. It’s pretty boring to us, but they could watch it for hours. Here are a few pictures of the girls watching the Letter Factory.

FUN FUN FUN!

By the way – happy anniversary Uncle Jesse. Love you.

I’m pretty tired so my words will be few. Ella had a great day today. My Gym was terrific, swimming was terrific and we had a really fun dinner at Acme. We also met up with an old high school friend of mine who is vacationing in SF for a few days. Ella took to Paige right away and we had a really fun afternoon. At one point, I went upstairs to get the dogs and I came down to find Ella and Paige in the closet and Ella was showing Paige all of her shoes. Really cute. Ella met 2 little girls at Acme and she was so sweet with them. She’s quite a social one. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera for Acme, but I did have it at My Gym and mommy took a few pictures and movies at the pool. Check out the pool video at the end Ella is walking around the pool like a maniac! No fear, pure happiness and pride.

Ella having some fun in the ball pit!

Ella about to conquer the monkey bars (sort-of!)

Ella is so proud and happy. She was attempting to hang on a monkey bar all by herself.

Here’s our little old lady walking to the car.

I got a sweet kiss in the pool.

Look at the cool big girl hanging on the wall.

Here’s the trampoline/pool video

We went to the Giants game tonight – they played the Cubs. It was a fantastic game but the Giants lost. Ella made a deal with us this morning that she would wear a sweatshirt and shirt and jeans to the ballgame if she could wear her red ruby slippers. We all did knuckles on the deal and she kept it with very little protest. There were fireworks after the game but it was too foggy to really see them. Ella fell asleep on Sunny for about an hour and 1/2 tonight. She looked like an angel in red ruby slippers!

Ella and her pal Charlie Brown.

Ella decided that she wanted to sit with Snoopy instead of stand.

Giving Snoopy a kiss.

Having so much fun with Becca!

Sleeping beauty…check out mommy’s new coat – it’s been 100 years since the Cubs have won a World Series. Mommy is still waiting!

Goodnight sweet Ella.

Tonight the Kim/Arena clan came over for dinner and then we all took a walk around the ballpark. The Cubs began a 4 game series tonight (they killed us) so it was fun and exciting outside. The girls made it even more fun and exciting. They all went out in the craziest outfits – well Ella’s wasn’t too crazy – just inappropriate for the weather once again. They all marched outside in costume and were absolutely adorable.

The girls playing the piano after dinner.

Here is a preview of the outfits. They were already having a blast in the elevator.

Here they are! Looks like their own pride parade.

Checking themselves out in the mirror at the ballpark.

It’s pretty windy out!

Here’s Ella taking a moment for herself to think about leotards and tutus and sun dresses.

Here’s Ella loving her best buddy Stella.

Today was the Pride parade. The three of us met up with Phyllis, Richard and Alice at the parade. We sat in the grandstand and got to see the whole parade go by. It was really festive and historic. There were many couples in the parade who were just married in the past few weeks and the overall feel of the parade was incredibly celebratory. We stayed for almost 4 hours and Ella was amazing. She was clapping and yelling out – she loved the balloons the most. Tonight, Helen, Ron, Stella and Juliet came home from Barbados. Ella saw them and squealed. I think Ron got some sweet pictures of the reunion.

Ella and mommy at the parade.

Here we are looking at something – maybe the balloons.

Here is Ella hanging out with Alice and Phyllis. Alice is the greatest. At one point during the parade she turned to me and said, “If I hadn’t seen this I wouldn’t have believed it!”

Today was a sweet day – pretty low key. Ella wanted to wear her leotard and tights in the house and that was fine. When it was time to go to the park, we let her stay in her outfit and she was so happy. We met up with a friend of Becca’s and a little girl that she was babysitting and Ella hung out with her for a little while. Tonight, we took a family walk over to Borders. Ella agreed to wear a new sweatshirt that I bought her for the baseball games. She also wore pants. This was a big deal. We are learning how to negotiate the clothing issue. The tantrums are getting shorter and shorter.

Our little ballerina about to touch the sand.

Mommy and Ella riding the animal things in the park.

What a little beauty.

Ella giving her new friend Hannah a hug.

Ella’s evening outfit (she even picked the matching shoes all by herself).

One of my birthday presents from Sunny was a morning on the Giants field at balldude camp. It’s an event that’s sponsored by the Giants Community Fund and basically it’s a morning where you get batting practice, field grounders and field outfield balls. Many of the people there are trying out to win a spot to be a balldude during a game, but some of us were just out having a fun time. Mommy, Ella and Becca were there cheering me on and taking pictures. I had so much fun. It was a really great morning. I fielded the grounders really well, hit every ball (some were foul balls but I made contact with every one) and did pretty well in the outfield – I missed about 4 fly balls. Ella actually agreed to wear jeans which was a great thing. Tonight, mommy and I took Ella swimming and we had a lot of fun. Tonight Ella agreed to wear sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. One day at a time…

Getting a nose kiss from Ella before we went over to the ballpark.

There’s my name up in lights!

I started to have fun the second I walked out on the field!

Here I am with Rich Murray – he was a Giant back in the day and he was running the ground ball drills.

OK – I’m ready, let’s go!

Fielding a grounder.

Becca and Ella relaxing.

Fooling around in the batting cage.

I think this was the shot that made it to the outfield grass.

I got it, I got it!

Ella was absolutely incredible!

Ella was so cute – she kept calling the baseball mitt a helmet.

Ella and mommy fooling around in the dugout.

Here is a picture of Ella and Rich Murray from last year when we took Ellen to balldude camp and here are Ella and Rich this year.

Ella hanging out with Towby this afternoon…she was supposed to take a nap but decided to yell “I’m awake, I’m awake” so I took her out of the crib and she hung out with me and the dogs.

Ella in her outfit after swimming. It didn’t seem to bother her at all.